If you had named your first child Hosanna...

[hosiesmum]

I've name changed for this, because with a kid called Hosanna I'm hardly one of thousands in the UK (!)...

My husband is Zimbabwean and we were living over there when our daughter was born. It's more normal over there to have, what in the UK would be considered, unusual names, and we both liked the name, so Hosanna she is.

We're now in the UK and get a lot of "Susannah? Savanna? Rosanna?" type responses when we introduce her... which is fine, people tend to be able to cope with her name once they've worked it out!

We're imminently due our second, no idea of sex, and I'm wondering whether to go "weird" (in UK terms) again, or something more mainstream...

We've got a bit of a list going, but I'm curious to hear what others would do. (Obviously, going by stats, most of you wouldn't name your firstborn 'Hosanna'! But please for the sake of this question pretend you did!).

So, what would you name your next child, based on this info?!

WomanWise with regard to virtue names and not so innocent Innocent trying to nick the car - I know a little girl call Serenity who is adorable but absolutely wild. She’s normally doing the wall of death in a toy car at toddler group

How about Selah? I know it on a white American girl, I'd love it but worked in my accent but would sound like cellar 😊

Joy
Hope
Faith

Moses
Abraham
Theodore

Wow it’s fabulous! What about Gabriella? Hero?

Patience
Blessing
Mercy
Peace
Faith
Evangeline
Emmanuel
Zion
Moses
Micah
Solomon
Isaiah

I added Zion before I saw the discussion, yes there is that here, but it came to me as a suggestion because of the recent documentary about a wrestler called Zion.

I can see the debate but originally it was just the hill upon which Jerusalem was built (I think ?)

Josiah seems like a lovely pairing with Hosanna, if you have a boy .

I love Hosanna! Such a fantastic name.

Temperance?

I don't know any Zimbabwean names....perhaps you could suggest some of the names on your shortlist Zimbabwean or otherwise and we could say if we think they go with Hosannah?

Wilbur Smith was Zimbabwean, so how about Wilbur for a boy?

Out of interest, do people generally think it's a good idea to give children names very firmly rooted in a particular faith unless that is your faith? Doesn't it set the child up for a lot of explaining? I would assume that a Hosanna came from a very Christian, probably evangelical background, for example. Ditto Blessing. I would assume a Mohammed came from a Muslim background, and Moses from a Jewish one. I know a lot of names have assimilated, but I don't think these examples have.

We have no Zimbabwean names on our list and we're not looking for something Zimbabwean. Just was wondering whether others would go for a second more unusual name, or whether you'd go more "normal" (for the context you're living in).

Seems the general consensus is that it's fine to go either way but that Hosanna and Bob (for example) might be more bizarre than Hosanna and Evangeline.

Good to have other opinions and some new ideas added, so thanks for this :)

Bertrand, you're driving me off my own thread with your negativity! Hosanna does come from an evangelical Christian family as it happens, so you can rest in peace knowing she fits your assumptions ;)

My objection is that the obvious dim is Ho. Not something I’d ever want my DD to be called.

It's already her name!!! I'm not wanting to rename my 3 year old, I'm thinking about a name for the next one!

Nobody calls her Ho, so we're doing OK so far.

How about “Excelsis”?
Then you can introduce your kids as Hosanna (i)n’ Excelsis!

I know it’s already her name, I’ve no doubt she will get called Ho as a teen.

I'm sure she'll survive it, Tat.

Thanks for the valuable input to my original question ;)

Tatiana what are you contributing to this thread exactly? Except insulting the OPs daughter? What is your problem?

OP your daughter’s name is lovely and many posters have suggested wonderful names that suit perfectly. I personally think lots of names sound lovely with Hosanna-also as a diminutive, Anna is lovely (not that that’s what you asked ) some people just love to jump on threads for an argument unfortunately. Sorry you feel like your thread has been sabotaged

Cbeebies thanks! There have been far more useful and positive contributions to the thread than the slightly odd contributions, so I'm not feeling bad (I'm just feeling 36 weeks pregnant and short tempered ).

Sadly Anna is a close relative, otherwise we'd go for that :) Sanna is my preferred shortening, but her name is not really shortened so far, (sometimes Hosie, but she'll outgrow that!) So we'll see what happens when she's older. Poor little Ho

Lol don’t worry my daughter’s name ‘sounds like a swear word’ and she’s coped fine can’t please them all eh!

My opinion.

I could come up with an Allelujah type name for the sibling but I couldn’t be arsed.

Wow you are frightful.

Sorry, OP- I didn’t mean to be negative- I was just speculating about the advisability of giving children names that are also labels. I quite like the idea of names that allow you to be a bit anonymous, if you want to be.

Precious! Love that name and would be great with Hosanna.